The stronger a neighborhood’s social identity, the worse for boys.- Lawrence Harmon, “Deadly Streets,” Boston Globe, May 10, 2010

On August 2, GMA Foundations hosted a funders briefing with sociologist David Harding focused on his recent book, Living the Drama: Community, Conflict and Culture Among Inner-City Boys. The meeting was facilitated by Boston Globe columnist Lawrence Harmon.

Harding’s book is drawn from interviews with 60 black and Latino boys living in separate neighborhoods in Roxbury, Dorchester and Dorchester Lower Mills. The first two neighborhoods are classified as areas of concentrated poverty, with 40 percent or more of residents living at or below the federal poverty level. Dorchester Lower Mills is primarily working and middle class and served as a control group for the study. Continue Reading »

Our movement is not just about changing laws. It’s about changing hearts and minds.
–Deivid Ribiero.

Young people have helped shape all of the major struggles for social justice of the modern era. As in the past, young people are starting to figure more prominently in recent efforts to reform immigration and increase access to higher education. Continue Reading »

Despite the surge in interest among foundations and nonprofit organizations in measuring effectiveness, there is a growing consensus that we do not always measure what matters.  Chaletta Huertas of GMA Foundations hosted a discussion to explore what does and does not work in measuring outcomes in out-of-school-time programs.

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We don’t have a save- the-youth model. We have an empower-the-youth model. 
– Cara Lisa Berg Powers, PressPass TV

Boston is a hotbed of youth media. Over two dozen youth organizations produce magazines, newspapers, videos, blogs, television, and radio shows. Unfortunately, conversations among them and between funders have been rare.

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GMA Foundations hosted a briefing highlighting the progress of the asset building movement in Massachusetts.

The June 2nd briefing featured consultant Christine Robinson, one of the pioneers of the foundation asset development movement, Monalisa Smith, a vice president at Citizens Bank, the lead funder of Greater Boston Interfaith Organizations’ “From Debt to Assets Program”, and Angela Brown, Senior Program Officer of the Hyams Foundation and a member of the Asset Development Commission for the State of Massachusetts. Continue Reading »

Through its summer institute for college-age women and its executive program for professionals, the National Hispana Leaderhip Institute has been an impressive networking and training force for an often neglected demographic. Henry Allen of the Discount foundation convened a meeting with Cristina Lopez, the new director of the Institute, which is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Continue Reading »